The importance of legal literacy and how to improve it
By Emily Cook, February 23 2026—
In an uncertain climate of political discourse, it is more important than ever to understand how law works in your everyday life. From traffic light regulations to your right to education, law is in everything and you deserve to understand it.
Legal literacy may seem like an intimidating concept, but it’s all about setting a foundation and letting it build upon itself. The most accessible form, basic legal literacy, focuses on the benefits and needs of the general public. Fundamentally, it urges people to understand their basic rights, protected freedoms and social responsibilities as they pertain to daily life.
As students, especially political science or law majors, it is imperative that we understand how our unique position engages with the law. Some of us are new to the larger political world and with limited support networks, people often lack political knowledge or the desire to care about how they can shape and are shaped by the law. We can reflect on the recent mayoral election, whose low turnout is a consequence of the inaccessibility of law and politics, and evidence of dwindling legal literacy.
So how can you improve your legal literacy? The key is to keep up with politics, especially local ones, and see how easily you can understand the impacts of legislature, voting results or elected officials. You can follow the profiles of local candidates as well. There’s even journals, such as LawNow, dedicated to the legal field that can keep you up to date on politics and legal developments in Canada.
If all of that is difficult to track, don’t worry! There’s plenty of resources out there, specific to any jurisdiction, that you can use to improve your understanding. For example, the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA) provides information on a wide range of legal subdisciplines and offers guides for any legal support you may need. If you want more direct information, Law Central, a subsection of CPLEA, offers more detailed resources for reading bills, getting legal help and even preparing for court.
If you’re really committed, you could even register for the first-year law classes offered right here at the University of Calgary! These provide a good baseline of everyday information, boosting your confidence if you ever have to interact with the legal system.
An easier option is engaging with political or legal services on campus. There’s a variety of clubs that deal directly with politics, promote discussions around law, or will support you with any legal or political questions. Some of them include Women in Politics, the Sociology and Law & Society Association, the Political Science Association, and Political Review, but there are also clubs dedicated to specific political parties. These are great resources if campus is your most accessible route to law and politics. In fact, the University of Calgary offers pro-bono services that can support you in your legal journey, whether that be law-related seminars, business ventures or engaging in reforms for public interest.
Engaging with these resources also makes you more socially conscious, a major benefit of legal literacy and your unique position as a student. Universities are hubs of social change and legal literacy greatly improves your ability to engage in discourse, form a strong and factual opinion, and argue for your cause.
If the political angle isn’t your thing, you can focus on the small ways you interact with the law and practice some basic techniques when you encounter it.
One of the most common intersections of law and your daily life is through contracts. Now, contract law is complicated and this isn’t an article about it, so you clearly don’t have to understand all the details to comfortably interact with it. These typically manifest as an app’s or membership’s terms of service, rental/tenant agreements and employment contracts. These are great (though sometimes daunting) places to start expanding your legal literacy.
Simply reading through the documents thoroughly and puzzling through each section can greatly increase your comfort with a contract’s specificities. With the latter two, it’s imperative that you understand what you are allowed to do and what you are expected to do. And if these documents are difficult to work through, there are services that you can access to clarify details or terminology, such as Ask A Lawyer.
Applying this method to any law-related document, article or piece of information encourages critical thinking and active engagement, slowly making you more comfortable with common legal terms. Make sure that if you are seeking legal guidance, you find a trusted source through a related intuition or the Canadian government.
Improving your legal literacy is deeply rewarding, giving you a new perspective on life and putting you in a better position for more opportunities and knowledge. It is a constant process and requires a lot of effort, but even a little improvement is better than nothing at all.